Information and Resources

U.S. News & World Report: Best Hospitals

July 15, 2014 -- The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, ranked first on the 2014 U.S. News & World Report list of best U.S. hospitals, also capturing half of the top spots for 16 specialty areas.

Last year, the top spot went to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which slipped to third this year. Massachusetts General Hospital is ranked in second place.

The rankings are calculated using several factors:

Reputation considers the input of 200 doctors from each of 16 specialties. The doctors were asked to list the hospitals they thought were best in their specialty for complex or difficult cases.

Patient survival looks at how successful each hospital is at keeping patients alive.

Patient safety rates each hospital on how well it avoided major mistakes -- bleeding after surgery, for example, or mistakes during surgery. This year, more emphasis was put on patient safety in calculating hospitals’ scores.

Other factors include staffing of nurses, patient volume, and technology that improves quality of care.

Statistics came from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' MedPAR database, the American Hospital Association, and other professional organizations.

This year, 17 hospitals were awarded a place on the honor roll. Each ranked at or near the top in six or more specialty areas. They include:

1. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

2. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore

4. Cleveland Clinic

5. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles

6. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, NY

7. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia

8. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco

9. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston

10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago

11. University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle

12. (tie) Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles

12. (tie) UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

14. Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC

15. NYU Langone Medical Center, New York

16. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York

17. Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis

Top Hospitals by Specialty

The magazine also ranked top hospitals in 16 specialty areas. The list includes: